National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru stands as India's premier National Law University (NLU). It has held the top rank in NIRF law rankings for 2025, 2024, 2023, and 2022. For CLAT 2026, General category students need a score above 98 to secure a seat at NLSIU. This high cut-off reflects the competition from over 50,000 CLAT applicants for limited seats.
CLAT 2026 cut-offs for the top NLU’s, as per previous year’s trends, are as follows.
Top NLUs | Expected cut-off marks | UG seats offered, excluding supernumerary NRI seats |
NLSIU Bengaluru | 100+ | 300 |
NALSAR Hyderabad | 100+ | 132 |
WBNUJS Kolkata | 98+ | 108 |
NLU Jodhpur | 95+ | 164 |
GNLU Gandhinagar | 95+ | 172 |
Category | Expected rank (2026) | Expected marks (2026) |
General | 112-115 | 98+ |
EWS | 700 | 89 |
OBC | 1540 | 85 |
SC | 3000 | 83+ |
ST | 6000 | 78+ |
For NLSIU Bengaluru in CLAT 2026, the General category remains the most competitive. Only candidates in the rank range of 112 to 115 are likely to secure admission against around 121 unreserved seats at NLSIU Bangalore. This rank range can be achieved with a CLAT score of 98+ out of 120. For the EWS category, an expected rank around 700 with a score close to 89 is considered safe, but there are only about 30 seats.
OBC candidates can expect the cutoff to be around rank 1540 with a score of about 85. Although nearly 81 seats are available for OBC candidates, however, the competition within this category remains high. For the SC category, an expected cut-off near rank 3000 with a score of 83+ is required for roughly 45 seats. ST candidates can find admission up to around rank 6000 and marks of 78+ for nearly 23 seats.
Year | Category | Opening rank | Closing rank |
CLAT 2025 | General | 1 | 112 |
EWS | 119 | 703 | |
OBC | 209 | 1541 | |
SC | 182 | 3133 | |
ST | 678 | 3396 | |
CLAT 2024 | General | 1 | 102 |
EWS | 122 | 523 | |
OBC | 151 | 971 | |
SC | 372 | 3007 | |
ST | 239 | 7487 |
Course | Seats |
BA LLB | 310 |
LLM | 120 |
Category | Reservation | Number of seats |
Scheduled Caste | 15.0% | 45 |
Scheduled Tribe | 7.5% | 23 |
Other Backward Classes (NCL) | 27.0% | 81 |
Economically Weaker Section | 10.0% | 30 |
General | N/A | 121 |
Total | 300 | |
Seats for Karnataka students (additional) | N/A | 10 |
Revised total | 310 |
CLAT 2026 counselling starts after the CLAT 2026 results are declared. Counselling is conducted online and involves seat allotment based on the candidates’ rank and preferences. The counselling runs through five rounds, managed by the Consortium of NLUs. NLSIU Bengaluru assigns seats using All India Ranks (AIR) and category lists based on student choices.
On Question asked by student community
Hello aspirant,
The Gujarat domicile rank is useful only for seats reserved under the domicile quota at GNLU Gandhinagar. However, even for domicile candidates, GNLU cutoffs usually close at much better All India Ranks. With an AIR of 19000, the chances are quite low, but since counselling invitation is received, it is still worth participating as some movement can happen in later rounds. Do not rely only on domicile rank final allotment depends on AIR, category and seat availability.
FOR REFERENCE : https://law.careers360.com/articles/gnlu-gandhinagar-admission
Hope the details will help you.
THANK YOU
Hello,
Based on previous year CLAT cutoff trends , your chances for NLSIU Bangalore are very low .
NLSIU Bangalore has the highest cutoff among all NLUs . In recent years, the final closing rank for General category has been around AIR 100–120 only.
You have:
General category AIR: 658
Women category rank: 313
No Karnataka domicile
Women reservation in NLUs is horizontal , not a separate quota. This means it does not add extra seats . It only helps when candidates are very close to the general cutoff. At a rank of 313 , the gap is too large.
Even in spot or final rounds, NLSIU does not go beyond ~120 rank for General category candidates without domicile.
However, with these ranks, you have good chances in other top NLUs like NALSAR Hyderabad, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur, GNLU Gandhinagar, and NLIU Bhopal, depending on counselling rounds.
You can also use our CLAT College Predictor Tool to predict which colleges you can get based on your score and rank.
Hope it helps !
Good afternoon,
With 86.7 marks and 1906 rank in CLAT 2026, you have a chance to get admission in mid-tier and the newest NLUs. The list of probable NLUs where you can get admission is mentioned below.
1. RMLNLU Lucknow
2. MNLU Mumbai
3. DSNLU Visakhapatnam
4. NLU Odisha
5. CNLU Patna
Thank you.
Hello,
Yes, a student with CLAT 2026 rank around 12,000 can register for counselling.
However, chances of getting a seat in the top NLUs (like NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR Hyderabad, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal) are very low, as their closing ranks are usually below 4,000 for the general category.
For mid-tier NLUs (like NLU Jodhpur, HNLU Raipur, GNLU Gandhinagar, RMLNLU Lucknow), closing ranks generally go up to 5,000–8,000, so it will still be difficult.
Lower-tier NLUs (like NLU Odisha, NUALS Kochi, NUSRL Ranchi, NLUJA Assam, DSNLU Vizag, TNNLU, HPNLU Shimla) sometimes admit candidates with ranks in the 10,000–30,000 range , especially in later counselling rounds or if there are vacancies. State quota reservations can also improve chances.
You can also use our CLAT College Predictor Tool to predict which colleges you can get based on your score and rank.
Hope it helps !
Hello,
A CLAT score of 81.25 places you in the moderate range, where admission to top NLUs becomes difficult, but opportunities may still remain in newer and mid-tier NLUs, depending on your category, seat movement, and round wise cutoffs.
https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-2026-college-predictor
Hope you understand.
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